Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Pic is a view of the South Carolina mountains from Ceasars Head state park.The view is one of the finest in the state. (my opinion)Remember all the folks that said they were leaving if Bush were re-elected? I voted for him, so why are you still here? Remember you were moving to Canada? To cold?So I've been hearing some folks say that they will have to leave if Obama and Biden are elected. Wassa matter, don't want to live in a socialist state? Remember the pic of the lighthouse I use from time to time? That view, and the one above are worth fighting for. Hold your part of the line, and know that I'm holding mine.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The best thing about Dano's was Dan and Lavora. I think they know everyone for fifty miles. They had a knack for being there when folks needed them. I know of at least one instance where a regular customer needed to put her car in the shop for a week, and Dan and Lavora gave this person a Cadillac to drive. It goes much deeper then that though. One of the regulars was stricken with lung cancer. He used to clean the bar on weekend mornings. Dan cut his grass while he was recovering from surgery. I remember watching someone bug Dan about betting on a football game. When the man lost, he wanted double or nothing. Dan agreed, and told the man to pick his game and team. There are about a million stories, but two are near to my heart.My wife retired from her day job to type for a living. The service she worked for told her that she wouldn't need anything but a dial up Internet account. As luck would have it, they didn't have enough work for her without high speed Internet. (satellite wouldn't work) I suggested that she try to rent space from one of the businesses on the main road. We couldn't pay much, as it came right out of her checks. Dan was her second stop. She went in for lunch and asked Dan if he knew of a place she could rent from someone local for cheap. Yes he said,"you can rent from me." She was there two years while I worked out the technology for her to work from home. While I was blind, a buddy came over to take me fishing. We stopped at Dano's for lunch. Dan came over to chat, asking me how I was holding up. I said I was having trouble being stuck around the house all day every day. He said "Your not! I'll come and get you any time you want."We went to a party a while back. It was for another regular and sometime bartender that had taken a job out of state. I had gotten to know David a couple of years ago. He was from Illinois. We had both wrestled at Northern Illinois University though not for them. So as the party was coming to a close I got to thinking about us. David was from Illinois, the man with lung cancer and his wife were from Minnesota, and Me from Michigan. I asked Dan how all of us northerners could find a home in that bar? He said "I have never met a stranger, and I know only friends."Thank God. Thank God for the both of you!Dan and Lavora gave up the fight to keep the place open in a time when profits were very hard to come by.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

"Evil lurks in the hearts of man, not the haunts of man." Quote from Don on this blog some time ago.So it's come to this. Everything in life has a time. A time to be, followed by a time to cease to be. I know a couple that own a bar in my neighborhood. It is a little, rundown place on the banks of Lake Murray. The burgers come in 1/3 pound patties that are bought from a meat market. It takes two of them to complete a Dano burger. The fries are hand cut. The folks that inhabit this place are as close as the neighbors that they are to me. The owners, Dan and his wife Lavora, are trusted friends met through the bar. I remember one of the first times I found a seat in the bar. (it was hard to do in the days before the expansion)A big man came over to our (my wife and I's) booth and introduced himself. He then welcomed us to the neighborhood when told we were building a house near by. He introduced us around, so we would feel comfortable there. I remember telling some co-workers about the place. One told me that they check you for knives at the door. If they don't find one, they issue you one from the kitchen! I never really had problems in there. It could get a bit intense late at night, or when the girls on the dance floor had a bit too much, but I never saw the police there. I remember being there about one Christmas and seeing some bags of fresh shelled pecans on the bar. They were for sale for about seven bucks each. Danelle, (my wife) thought we should buy some so that she could make her holiday rum balls. I asked Dano about them, and he told me that he had a friend that was blind, and he shelled the nuts and was trying to sell them. We told Dan that we would take a bag for our rum balls, and to please add it to our tab. No! Came the reply, as he gave me the nuts and asked if we would bring him some of the rum balls. He was willing to donate the rum as well! He bought the pecans, so we bought the rum, and everyone got rum balls. continued.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

How much of your net worth have you lost over the last few months? I don't have a clear idea yet about my wife and I. The river is still rising. Will we be OK? Yes, we paid attention all along, and have a low debt ratio to earnings. Do I think the govt should bail us out? I have no idea, but lean against it. Did anyone see Nancy Pelosi the other night? Instead of telling everyone to work together, she took the opportunity to "blame Bush" and the rest of the GOP. Howd that work out for yah Nancy? Hell no we won't vote for your bill! I see no reason a sane person would ever elect her to office, so how did that happen? I think it's revenge. It is revenge from all the gays in San Francisco for the way the country has treated them. I told you they were some mean asses when you got em going! :) Most of us aren't anti gay, and even if we were..... we're sorry! Please call off your attack critter! Please!My advice to weather this storm is simple. Buy seeds! Corn and other vegetables should do well in all of the manure Washington is handing out.